Donald Crews does incredible and beautifully designed books about vehicles (try “Freight Train”, “Truck”, “Parade”, “Harbor”). Byron Barton has striking illustrations and great story sense (“My Car” has a great twist, we also love “Bones, Bones, Dinosaur Bones” and “Machines at Work”)
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everyone knows and loves “The Snowy Day” but Ezra Jack Keats also did a fun series about a kid named Peter (“Whistle for Willie”, “Peter’s Chair”, “Hi, Cat”). Similarly everyone knows Carl the dog but Alexandra Day also did a series called Frank and Ernest where an elephant and bear have jobs
Gail Gibbons has a million well illustrated and very informative nonfiction books about scientific and natural history topics (fruits, veggies, spiders, frogs…) Lois Elhert does lovely collage and paper cut illustrations (try “Planting a Rainbow”, “Eating the Alphabet”, or “Feathers for Lunch”)
A friend of ours introduced us to the Sato the Rabbit series, translated from Japanese, very soothing and quirky. Don and Audrey Wood are GOATs for silly books (King Bidgood’s in the Bathtub, Silly Sally, the Napping House)
I could literally do this all day, if you ever want any more please hit me up. There are plenty of dreadful children’s books but I’ve been pleasantly surprised at how many great ones are still out there kicking around. I tend to be suspicious of newer books but I’ve found great new ones too!